Businesses in Southbank

06 Apr 2017

With the next new Australian denomination banknotes to be released later this year, we are sure to witness the same excitement again.

With so many new collectors entering the field and with some beautiful new Australian and international banknotes being released, Downies Coins and Collectables would like to help people collect the things they love.

Below are some ways that we’d like to offer our help:

Choosing a theme

Step one is to think about what you want to collect. What are you interested in? What is your budget? And what them would you like to collect to?

There are lots of possible themes to use in collecting so choose a theme that excites you and stick to it! Why? Because defining what to collect will help you stay focused and makes completing your theme realistic, achievable and affordable.

Consider the following:

Collecting a set of banknotes by country. Many people try to get an example of a banknote from every country in the world or an example of every Australian bank note produced;

Collecting by year. Other people collect world banknotes struck in the year they were born or from some other date of importance to them;

Collecting by denomination. This is a collection that, for example, could include all the different types of notes produced by the Reserve Bank of Australia. These could be by pre decimal only, decimal paper only or decimal polymer only; and

Collecting by design. For example, some collectors base their collecting on images of ships on banknotes, portraits of monarchs or royalty. This type of collecting is interesting because it can include banknotes from all over the world, both modern and historical.

Once you have a theme you will want to learn as much as you can about it! For world banknotes there is a reference book published by Krause Publications called Standard Catalogue of World Paper Money by Albert Pick.

Starting to collect

It’s easy to start a banknote collection! You can start at home by collecting banknotes that have around your house. Ask friends and family for help.

Ask if they have any interesting banknotes from faraway places, they can also help you look for banknotes from faraway places. They can also help you look for banknotes that have special dates or themes you are looking to collect.

Learning more

Collecting world banknotes has become a popular part of numismatics, especially in the USA! The great appeal of banknote collecting is that banknotes can serve as a means for learning about history, life and traditions of other countries. Banknotes reflect the heritage economy and art of the issuing country.